‘It’s an unruptured aneurysm, seven millimetres in size,’ Fiona – the most experienced of the registrars – said. ‘So there’s a point zero five per cent risk of rupture per year according to the international study published in 1998.’ ‘And if it ruptures?’ ‘Fifteen per cent of people die immediately and another thirty per cent die within the next few weeks, usually from a further bleed and then there’s a compound interest rate of four per cent per year.’ ‘Very good, you know the figures. But what should we do?’ ‘Ask the radiologists if they can coil it.’ ‘I’ve done that. They say they can’t.’
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